Hebron sends Jefferson girls to consolation

After a draining, overtime win against Social Circle on Wednesday, Jefferson didn't have the energy needed for another come-from-behind win in the Region 8-A tournament semifinals on Friday.

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Lady Dragons coach Brandy Corbett didn't want to blame that victory for her team's lackluster performance against second-seeded Hebron Christian on Friday, but it's hard to deny that Jefferson struggled in a 45-41 loss.

The third-seeded Lady Dragons shot only 26 percent from the field.

"I don't want to make any excuses," Corbett said. "I feel like we had an extremely poor night from the field. After Wednesday's game, we took it real easy (Thursday), knowing we would have two more games this week. We just had trouble executing in the halfcourt set."

Jefferson has already advanced to the state tournament and will play in the consolation game at 4 p.m. today.

Hebron Christian defeated Jefferson 67-58 in the team's only regular season meeting on Jan. 4. But Friday's game took on a decidedly more defensive tone.

"We worked a lot harder on our man defense," Hebron Christian coach Betsy Hensley said. We did a better job of controlling the dribble-drive penetration and that helped us."

Both teams were hindered by sloppy play in the opening quarter. The Lady Dragons (22-5) harassed the Lady Lions (24-2) with an aggressive full-court pressure, and forced eight turnovers in the first eight minutes. But Jefferson squandered its chances by committing seven first-quarter turnovers and missing too many open jumpers.

Jefferson was held scoreless through the first five minutes until Shanita Moon hit a short jumper in the lane, cutting Hebron Christian's lead to 7-2 with two minutes left in the opening quarter.

"I do think our legs weren't what they usually are," Corbett said. "But when teams run a really good, tight man defense on us, it's tough. We have to execute and run a continuous offense, and that's difficult for us. We're more of a team that likes to run and score in transition."

The Lady Dragons managed to trim Hebron Christian's advantage to 19-15 at halftime, at seemed poised to make a run in the third when the Lady Lions' Meredith Montgomery went to bench with her fourth foul. But Courtney Odom stepped up in Montgomery's absence and helped Hebron Christian stretch its lead to 10 with a three-point play.

Moon, who led all scorers with 24 points, brought the Lady Dragons back to within striking distance by scoring the final five points of the third quarter, but Jefferson was never able to overtake the Lady Lions.

The Lady Dragons had opportunities late in fourth, but each time they were thwarted by Montgomery, who finished with 21 points.

Jefferson pulled to within one point when Hannah James made a three pointer with 21 seconds remaining, but again it was Montgomery who kept Jefferson at bay.

The sophomore made 7 of 8 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter, including 5-for-6 in the final 45 seconds to hold off the Lady Dragons.